"Sweet fruit" from passion for agriculture

The economic model of combining crop cultivation with livestock raising with high productivity and economic efficiency is the "sweet fruit" that Mr. Tran Van Hanh (born in 1977), currently living in Lan Dinh village, Phong Binh commune, Gio Linh district, Quang Tri province, has reaped after many years of perseverance and effort. "I spend most of my time researching plants and animals as well as techniques for raising and growing them. For me, farming is not only for economic development but also a passion," Mr. Hanh shared.

Mr. Hanh takes care of a flock of super egg chickens - Photo: TP

Having worked in the South for a while, however, his passion for agriculture kept urging him to return to his homeland to start a business. When asked about the early days of starting his business, he said he encountered many difficulties. “I researched everything I did carefully, so it took me a lot of time and effort to raise and test some plants and animals before deciding whether to raise and grow crops long-term or not,” said Mr. Hanh.

10 years ago, he started raising broiler chickens but did not achieve the expected results because at that time, the number of broiler chicken farmers in the area was quite large, so the consumption market was difficult. While not knowing what to do, Mr. Hanh was fortunate to know about the super egg chicken raising model of the only household in the area. So he came to learn from the experience and then invested in building a pilot farm to raise 200 super egg chickens.

According to Mr. Hanh, compared to meat chickens, raising super egg chickens requires higher techniques because this type of chicken has weak resistance. If not raised properly, the chickens are susceptible to diseases, have a low egg-laying rate, and are very likely to suffer losses. After about 4.5 months of care, the chickens will begin to lay their first batch of eggs; the egg-laying rate reaches 100% from the 5th month onwards.

After 1.5 years of raising eggs, a new batch must be raised to ensure the best quality and efficiency of the eggs. From the initial 200 chickens, his family's chicken farm now has 500 chickens. On average, this flock lays 300 eggs/day, peaking at 400 eggs/day. With a selling price of 35,000 VND/10 eggs, this model brings his family a revenue of nearly 400 million VND/year, minus expenses, a profit of 150-170 million VND/year. In addition to the chicken farm, he and his wife also raise wild boars, some freshwater fish such as square-headed perch, catfish...

As a person with a passion for agriculture, Mr. Hanh hardly leaves himself any free time. In 2018, taking advantage of 3 sao of garden land, he learned the farming model from the South to the North, buying 50 green-skinned grapefruit trees from a reputable garden to plant.

However, grapefruit usually takes 3.5 - 4 years to bear fruit, so he decided to intercrop with a few dozen guava trees. Thanks to that, in just a short time, this garden has brought income to his family.

Mr. Hanh said: “Growing grapefruit is not difficult, but the grower must have knowledge about this type of plant so that the tree can produce high yield and quality. That is, the tree must ensure that it has enough water and nutrients, especially, to have a high fruit set rate, the grower must take good care of it from the time the tree is about to flower, regularly mound the base, fertilize, prune branches, prune fruit, and ensure the tree's strength to grow in the next season. In addition to grapefruit, he also planted 100 pepper trees, 50 sapote trees, papaya trees... Recently, he also experimented with planting 30 jackfruit trees from the West.

Mr. Hanh said: “This garden was built after many years of hard work, so I am always proud of my “fortune”. In the future, I will continue to learn, research and apply new methods and techniques of raising and growing livestock to bring more economic efficiency to my family, contributing a small part to building my homeland”.

Truc Phuong

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/qua-ngot-tu-dam-me-nong-nghiep-187597.htm